Nut butters, such as peanut butter, are appreciated by consumers for many of their attributes, including nutritive value, convenience, texture and taste. One of the nutrition concerns of health professionals and consumers in recent years has been the presence in packaged foods of ingredients considered to be “unnatural,” especially trans-fatty acids formed by partial hydrogenation of unsaturated oils. As a result, there have been efforts, with varying degrees of success, to develop nut butters and other products with ingredients considered to be more “natural,” e.g., by using stabilizers which have not been hydrogenated.
While peanut butters and other peanut spreads have generally been considered to be organoleptically-pleasing foods, particularly given their generally favorable nutritive characteristics, efforts have been made to make these products even more palatable. For example, certain products have added chocolate or chocolate components. Not only does this make the product even more appetizing, but the consumer of such a product may benefit from ingestion of beneficial chocolate components such as polyphenols.
A problem which sometimes accompanies deviations from a “normal” peanut butter formulation is a tendency toward separation of the liquid (at room temperature) oil from the remainder of the product. Some “natural” peanut butters are known for the presence of a layer of oil separated from the balance of the product, requiring the consumer to mix the two in order to obtain a homogeneous spread. It is preferred by many not to have the oil separate and, therefore, to eliminate the chore of mixing together the liquid oil phase and the more solid phase.
Peanut and other nut spreads have received considerable attention in the patent literature, in the technical literature, and in the marketplace.
Gooding, U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,254 discloses a peanut butter having resistance to oil separation prepared from peanut butter and a non-hydrogenated hard fraction separated from palm oil. Gooding mentions that the hard fraction of palm oil contains a significant amount of polyunsaturated acids, as much as 3-5 times the amount usually present in butter fat and as much as the amount usually present in cocoa butter.
Player et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,725 mentions palm stearine as a stabilizer for peanut butter. Durkee 27 partially hydrogenated palm oil stearine having a capillary melting point of 136° to 148° F. and an iodine value of 5 max is specifically mentioned.
Given, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,923,708 and 5,023,102 are directed to a fat bloom inhibitor for chocolates. The inhibitor additives are said to be particularly suitable for inhibiting fat bloom of a confectioners coating where the center has a high fat content which can diffuse from the center to the coating as is common with peanut butter.
Seiden et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,074 discloses stabilizers for peanut butter and other shortenings.
Walling et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,919 is directed to a peanut butter. The preferred stabilizer is said to be a fully hydrogenated mid fraction of palm oil. Possible additives include chocolate chips or bits.
Eichelberger et al., US Patent Application Publication No. US2003/0211223 is directed to a squeezable nut butter which may be a peanut butter. Stabilizers of palm origin are mentioned. Stabilizers may be present at from 0.25-1.75% and may be high melting, e.g. 145° F.-155° F. Overall levels may be from 0.5-10%.
Eichelberger et al., US Patent Application Publication No. US2003/0211224 is directed to an edible product comprising a squeezable nut butter in combination with a further edible component. Examples of further edible components include chocolate. High melting vegetable oil stabilizers of palm oil origin at a level of 0.5-10% may be included. The stabilizer may have a melting point of 145° F.-155° F.
Slesinski et al., US Patent Application Publication No. US2005/0142276 is directed to a peanut or other nut spread with reduced levels of adjusted carbohydrates. A stabilizer may be included at 0.5-10% which is high melting (145° F.-155° F.), especially one of palm or similar vegetable oil origins. Chocolate may be included.
Perlman, U.S. Pat. No. 7,344,747 discloses a peanut butter in which omega-3 fatty acids are said to be stabilized against oxidation. The contemplated oxidation-stabilized oil is said to be a blend of omega-3 enriching oil with either a low linoleic, high oleic oil or a low linoleic high saturates selected from a group which includes cocoa butter, coconut oil, palm kernel oil and palm oil.
Slesinski, US Patent Application Publication No. US2006/0045938 is directed to a peanut cream which can be used to produce a snack or other food bar which includes at least two filling layers directly adjacent to each other. A chocolate coating may be present. Chocolate chips may be included. High melting vegetable oil stabilizers of palm, cottonseed and similar vegetable oil origins at a level of 0.5-10% may be used. The high melting stabilizers have a melting point of 145°-155° F. The stabilizer is said to tend to reduce liquid oil separation and to improve the viscosity of the product. The source for any fat used in the food bars is preferably vegetable fat such as, for example, cocoa butter, palm, palm kernel, soybean, safflower, cottonseed, coconut, rapeseed, canola, corn, peanut and sunflower oils, or mixtures thereof.
Gee “Analytical characteristics of crude and refined palm oil and fractions,” Eur. J. Lipid. Sci. Technol. 109 (2007), 373-379, mentions that palm oil can be physically refined and fractionated into various fractions, ranging from very hard palm stearin with iodine values below 10 to palm superolein with iodine values as high as 72.
Peanut Butter and Company sells a product called Dark Chocolate Dreams which includes peanuts, evaporated cane juice, cocoa, cocoa butter, palm fruit oil, vanilla, lecithin (from sunflowers) and salt, (Accessed on the Internet Sep. 1, 2011).
Nutella® is advertised as a spread made from a combination of roasted hazelnuts, skim milk and a hint of cocoa. It lists palm oil as an ingredient (Accessed on the Internet Sep. 1, 2011).
Unilever has sold in the United States for more than a year a “natural” peanut butter containing a non-hydrogenated palm fraction stabilizer having an IV of 14.
Unilever sold in the United States a peanut butter product called squeeze sticks which included chocolate more than a year before the filing of the present application. The sticks included a hydrogenated, non-palm based, vegetable oil stabilizer.
Loders Croklaan of Channahon, Ill., has sold for more than one year in the United States Revel A. Revel A is currently described on its website (accessed Sep. 2, 2011) as a non hydrogenated, no trans structuring and stabilizing fat for peanut butter and a crystallizing aid in lauric fat based compound coatings. The website indicates that it has an iodine value of 16 max and a capillary melting point of 140° F. minimum. Typical usage rates for peanut butter are said to be 2%.
US Patent Application Publication No. US 2011 151101 mentions a palm kernel stearin having an IV of preferably less than 7.
WO 08/150169 mentions in Example 3 a stearin fraction of a palm stearin, having an IV of 12.
US Patent Application Publication No. US 2009/081352 discloses a solid fat derived from palm oil which has an iodine value of 0 to 21.
US Patent Application Publication No. 2008/193624 discloses human milk fat substitutes. Palm stearin IV 15 is mentioned.
US Patent Application Publication No. US 2004/096567 is directed to peanut butter with organic stabilizers. Palm stearin is mentioned as stabilizer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,841 mentions palm stearin.